Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Accused Murderer Sam Haskell Trial Delay

Episode Date: July 27, 2024

A group of day laborers is hired by Sam Haskell IV to remove three bags of what they are told, are rocks from his garage  The men described the bags as "soft and soggy," with each weighing about 50 pounds. A block away from Haskell's house, the workers opened up the bags and said they saw body parts. The men returned the bag to Haskell and returned his money. Haskell played it off, telling the workers what they actually saw were Halloween props. The men drove immediately to the police. The men try to report what they have seen to police but they are turned away. The men went to the Highway Patrol station first but were told to go to the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD Topanga Station tells the men to go back outside and call 911 from the courtyard. In the meantime, police receive another call about human remains, A homeless man, digging through the dumpster looking for recyclables, finds human remains. Inside the dumpster, LAPD found a torso in a bag. The investigation provided detectives with enough information to lead them to Samuel Haskell IV's residence.   Sam Haskell's most recent court appearance has delayed the start of his trial.  Joining Nancy Grace Today: Elle Benami - -Friend and neighbor of Mei & Samuel Haskell IG: @ellebenami Troy Slaten – Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, Slaten Lawyers, APC; Twitter @TroySlaten Dr. Gary Brucato – Clinical Psychologist and Author: “The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime” Chris McDonough – Director At the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective; Host of YouTube channel: “The Interview Room”  Dr. Michelle Dupre – Forensic Pathologist and former Medical Examiner, Author: “Homicide Investigation Field Guide” & “Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide”, Ret. Police Detective Lexington County Sheriff’s Department Dr. Trace Sargent- Search, Rescue & Recovery Expert, (Ph.D. in Psychology with a focus on victimology – criminal profiling – predator behaviors – crime scene analysis); Podcast: “The Seeker’s Quest;” Facebook: The Seeker’s Quest Alexis Tereszcuk –  CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter, Writer/Fact Checker for Lead Stories; Twitter: @swimmie2009  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. All H-E-L-L breaks loose when someone discovers a female torso in a dumpster. It doesn't take California police very long to track the torso to one person, the son of a famous Hollywood agent, the son, Sam Haskell. Not only is his wife missing, but so are his in-laws. In the last days, accused killer Sam Haskell appears in an L.A. courtroom and a judge delays setting the date for a preliminary hearing on whether Haskell will stand trial for murdering his wife and parents. What's the holdup? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

You know, isn't it odd that whenever really rich defendants are involved, there's always delays and sticky situations in court. Let me tell you, if someone that wasn't educated, privileged, wealthy, was charged with the murder and dismemberment of his wife and likely murders and dismemberment of his in-laws, they would be under the jail. So what's the holdup with Sam Haskell? He keeps showing up in court, showing off his muscles without a shirt on. You know what? Do I need to see that? How did the whole thing start? Take a listen to this. Police say they got a call from one of sam haskell's neighbors who reported seeing suspicious bags outside the tarzana home and the bags appear to have body parts in them lapd detective e from gutierrez the radio call november 7th at about

5 30 p.m uh involved a suspicious uh um bag that possibly contained human remains. When the officers responded, nothing was located. Even though nothing was located, an investigation was launched. This is what we know. The original call to police we first thought was from neighbors, but now it appears to be from some construction workers in the area. What a twisted story. Listen. The men try to report what they've seen to the police, but are turned away. Twice. The men went to the highway patrol station first,

but were told they had to go to the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD Topanga station tells the men to go back outside and call 911 from the courtyard. OK, I've got an all star panel to make sense of what we know right now about three missing people and a woman's torso that has been found in a dumpster there in L.A. But first to Alexis Teresichuk joining me from this jurisdiction, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Alexis, thank you for being with us. So, I mean, bottom line, Alexis, police and not one, but two locations send these citizens trying to report what they think is a bag of body parts on a wild goose chase, a scavenger hunt, so to speak. They do. They went, they had these trash bags. They thought, oh my gosh, this is not something normal. This is probably body parts. We think this is what it is. They go to a police station. The police say,

well, where did you get these bags from? Oh, you got it from this house over there. You need to go to that jurisdiction. Didn't look at the bags, nothing at all. Probably didn't even believe them. So they send it to the next place and they're like, yeah, you got to call 911. You know, this is right out of a movie. Let me go to Chris McDonough joining me, director of the Cold Case Foundation, former homicide detective, host of a YouTube channel, The Interview Room, where I found him. Chris McDonough, have you ever seen Home Alone? Yes.

Okay. I know you know where I'm going, where the mom calls. I believe this must have been Home Alone 2, where she calls from Paris, and she gets sent to one person, and then they knock on the wall, and they send the phone to the next person, and back and forth and back and forth. She never gets the right police officer, and finally starts calling neighbors. I know that is a funny, a comical example of what we're talking about, but really, these people are trying to report a bag of human body parts and they get sent on a wild goose chase.

I tell you what, if I were the police chief, which of course I'm not, I would totally clean house over who chose not to take a report on a bag of body parts, Chris McDonough. And I can bet you, Nancy, you're 100% right. This is right out of a Hollywood horror movie. And that police chief Moore, Michael Moore, who's LAPD chief now, he's going to be questioning a lot of folks. Well, I hope he does more than question them. I mean, you get a call about body parts. You better go like grease lightning to investigate. And that delay cost the case a lot of time and possibly a lot of evidence. Let's move forward. Listen.

LAPD detective Ephraim Gutierrez says early the next morning, police received another call about human remains. The caller was a homeless man that was digging through the dumpster to look for recyclables and discovered what he believed to be a human remains. All that was recovered was the torso, but there were clues in the bag. Just from a visual inspection, the stages of decomposition were relatively early, so no more than a day or two. Okay, I'm glad that an untrained cop can look in and tell me the level of decomposition, but actually he may be right. You know, let me go to Troy Slayton, high profile criminal defense attorney joining us out of this jurisdiction, LA.

You know, if there were anywhere else, I would just assume they were the same body parts, but in LA they could be entirely a different set of body parts. But logically speaking, Troy Slayton, do you think they could then add two plus two equals? These are the same set of body parts as we got reported yesterday? Well, the coroner and medical examiner, which are the same here in Los Angeles, they're going to start having to piece these things back together. So the body parts that were recovered by these construction workers and whatever was found by this homeless person, it's not going to take very long for them to decide if that's the same body part. And the robbery homicide division of LAPD, which is the most elite squad in the LAPD, is going to be investigating and try and put two and two together.

Dr. Michelle Dupree is joining me, forensic pathologist, medical examiner, former detective, author of Money, Mischief and Murder, The Murdoch Saga, the rest of the story on Amazon. And she literally wrote the book, The Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Dr. Dupree, we're all talking about bags of body parts, but to this victim or victim's family, the discussion of body parts, that is their loved one. That is their daughter, their sister, their mom, their dad, their grandpa, that we're talking about, body parts. Body parts. You're absolutely right, Nancy.

These are somebody's family. They are, you know, I'm obviously very upset about this, and it's a tragic thing to find. No, it's not just the shock of ultimately learning that you have lost someone you love, possibly that you love more than anything else in the world, but then finding out that they are a crime victim, a murder victim, and then to find out that they have been dismembered, that their dead body has been defiled in such a horrible, horrible way. To Dr. Gary Procato, clinical psychologist, author of The New Evil, Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime.

Now that is a read. Dr. Procato, that's a lot for one person to take in. I mean, I remember when my fiance was murdered. At first, I just assumed that there had been a car crash. And then I found out he was murdered. And frankly, I don't remember a whole lot after that. But to then learn that someone dismembered the person you love more than anything else in the world. I don't know how do you make a comeback after that? It's extremely difficult because a person would have to make some kind of meaning out of what it is that happened in their life.

Some kind of existential or spiritual meaning, and to try to go out in the world and battle that kind of darkness so that other people don't have to experience it. And people that I've worked with who have been victims of violent crime, it seems to be the only way that they're able to make any sense of purpose out of it. What is happening? One set of remains found or spotted outside of home. Police finally get there after sending the civilian informant on a wild goose chase. When they get there, no more remains. It's gone. They don't execute a search warrant. They do nothing,

claiming they don't have enough evidence to execute a search warrant in the home. The next day, it's reported that there is a female torso found in a dumpster. Let's pick it up right there. Take a listen to our friends at Crime Online. The LAPD says that when they processed the scene where the torso and the bag were found in a dumpster, the investigation provided detectives with information that led them to the residence of Samuel Haskell. Sam Haskell IV. Who is that? Listen. Sam Haskell IV is the son of Sam Haskell III, an Emmy award-winning producer

who was a high-profile agent with Hollywood's William Morris Talent Agency, where he represented A-list stars like George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg, Dolly Parton, and many others. Haskell IV lists himself as a director and posted several clips online of low-budget videos he wrote and filmed. Former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville appears in one of the clips for a movie which appears to be a high school teen drama. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Sam Haskell IV, the Hollywood super agent's son, accused of killing and dismembering his wife and murdering her parents, who only moved in to help them raise the children while their daughter supported lazy Sam Haskell, the fourth, was in court again. This time facing the L.A. judge who will decide if he will stand trial for the horrific slayings.

Sam Haskell, 36, old enough to know better, has been on suicide watch at L.A.'s notorious Twin Towers jail since his arrest. He was led into the L.A. Superior Court shackled and bare-chested, just as he was at prior court appearances. Man, put on a shirt. And by the way, if you don't know a horse, look at his track record. This guy has never done anything for other people. It's always about him. His in-laws moved in with them to take care of the children so his beautiful wife could work like a dog to pay the house note while he did what? Flit around town and work out in a local gym? Ugh.

This guy cares too much about himself to commit suicide. Of course, I am not a doctor, a medical doctor, but everything this guy has ever done screams me, me, me, me, me. Sporting a shorter haircut and his heavily tattooed upper torso, he looks like he's blowing kisses at the camera. He kept looking around the courtroom as if searching for people he might know. There were no family or friends present, mostly because he killed them. But I did notice his father, the super agent, and the rest of his family didn't show up. And yes, he's pictured in court shirtless again. Haskell, of course, accused of murdering and dismembering his wife, May Lee, with whom he shared three beautiful children.

Her dismembered body was found in November. So Sam Haskell IV is the son of a high-powered talent agent who was known as the, quote, good guy of Hollywood. The dad, Haskell III, was the CEO, I believe, of the Miss America pageant for many, many years, has, I think, still working with Dolly Parton in her Magnolia productions. I mean, the dad is renowned. In fact, I think he was the worldwide head of TV work for William Morris. Do I have that right? Haskell three, the father, he, it was, and, but he wasn't the head of the pageants. He was, he separated from the pageant organization about a year ago. Right, over a dispute regarding some emails. But. Correct. Then that leads me to the son, Haskell Four. Now, from what I understand, this guy, Haskell Four,

has directed a few things, including working with Tyga and Machine Gun Kelly. But he never reached the level of his father's fame. Is that right? Correct. Not in any way, shape or form. And he mostly put things on social media where he would do videos, you know, on TikTok. Wait a minute. I'm so glad you said that. Let's take a listen to Sam Haskell for the fourth on social media. His

TikTok. This is our cut 14. Like my resume says, unhappy, bitter, resentful. Now I'm consistently never going to stop drinking. Shouts out to the waiter at the restaurant above Nordstrom's for just like completely burning out of my filet. Like what kind of a monster are you homie? What? Sydney, can I hear that again? Like my resume says unhappy, bitter, resentful. Now I'm consistently never going to stop drinking. Shouts out to the waiter at the restaurant above Nordstrom's for just like completely burning out of my filet. Like what kind of a monster are you homie? Okay.

This guy, Sam Haskell, the fourth is living in a nearly $3 million home in Tarzana, which is a really beautiful area around L.A. He's got an enclosed backyard, I've seen it myself, with a gorgeous pool, a play area for his children, the works. It's a six-bedroom home, and he is whining that he's unhappy, bitter and resentful. He's never going to stop drinking. Thanks for sharing. And complaining that the waiter at the restaurant on top of Nordstrom's, I guess it's at the Topanga Mall, I'm not sure. Nordstrom's, which is a really expensive department store, burned his filet mignon.

Wait, am I? Okay. Alexis, tell me about this area because I've seen it and it's really beautiful. It is. Tarzana is part of Los Angeles County. It's a little bit away from downtown. It's in the valley, but it's, so it's beautiful, lush green homes, you know, very spaced out, not right on top of

each other at all. You know, tree lined streets, really good schools around there. Nice areas for your kids to play nice, you know, restaurants and malls where you could take your kids parks, you know, the dumpster, everything is right near a park. Just a lovely area that for somebody who doesn't seem to work, you would think probably maybe his parents bought this very expensive home for him. And they just moved there in December of 2020. So in the middle of the pandemic, they moved. And joining me right now is a special guest. It is Elle Benemy. Thank you for being with us. We're all trying to figure out what exactly is happening. You are a friend and neighbor of May and Sam Haskell IV. What can you tell us about them? So they moved to the neighborhood, like you said, in December 2020, January 2021, during the pandemic. And from the beginning, I did think that they were, it struck me that they were very different, Sam and May.

He was, she's extremely outgoing. Right when she moved in here, she came around and she introduced herself and she wanted to make plans with us and the kids. And he was not like that. He would, you know, say hello if I saw him on the street, maybe kind of like nod his head. He would smile, so he was outwardly friendly. But in the, I guess, three years that he lived next to us, I never actually had a conversation with him. But with May, it was very different.

I had many, many long conversations with her, took many long walks and can't say the same for him. Question. You spent time with May, and I know that May lived in the home with her parents, ages 72 and 64. What was she like? May was just a very sweet person, very generous, very sweet, very caring, would kind of get excited about small things,

kind of a bit in like a, I guess, like a childlike way, which was very endearing. She loved to be around people. She threw many parties. She was very dedicated to her three boys and always threw them really amazing birthday parties, really went all out. She threw parties for Chinese New Year and she always loved to make plans, make sure her boys have a lot of things planned out and also took them to many extracurricular activities after school, from music to sport to, you know, advanced math and so on.

OK, that is a mom that cares. I mean, I've been there and I know the ages of her children, her three boys. You're constantly in the road taking one to music or this one to gymnastics or this one to soccer or whatever it is that they latch on to that they like. What was her relationship with Haskell for? So I will say that she never really discussed her relationship with him with me. But just from observing them, I would say that they weren't close. They didn't have anywhere near a close relationship. I would definitely not call it that.

Never seen them be affectionate with each other. They never went on date nights. She never mentioned them going on a date I never observed them going out anywhere together they didn't go on vacations together so she would go on vacation with her children and her parents and he typically went on solo trips I think typically to Japan according to me some of them were work-related for filming they both for example like to take walks in the neighborhood I never saw them take a walk together you know that's that's really

interesting Elle and guys you're hearing a friend and neighbor of May and Sam Haskell the fourth Troy Slayton I'm just trying to imagine this. Nancy, that's something very important. I love to take walks with my spouse here in beautiful Los Angeles, but he lived with his in-laws too. And I'm not making any kind of excuse, but people sometimes in that situation feel trapped. They feel that there are no boundaries and starting to think about what some of the

defenses might be psychologically for him. That he lived with his in-laws. Are you kidding me? I've got my 92 year old mother with us. Okay. And you you know who's the very sweetest to her my husband if he feels trapped he hasn't said so that's nice but a lot of people suffer tremendous psychological stress from living with their in-laws okay well i can't wait to see how that goes over was that you l about to say? Yeah, I was going to say that Mae's parents, they were, I mean, of course, I don't know what went on inside their home, but from what I could see, they seem to be extremely helpful. Anytime I observed them with the children, they always, both of them were actively, you know, chasing after them, helping.

Her mom cooked a lot, I think pretty much daily for them and for the kids. When May threw birthday parties, it was not Sam that helped in any way. It was her parents. Even though they didn't speak English, they were constantly actively helping. And, you know, and her mom had suffered a stroke prior to COVID. And so she did use or she does use a cane to walk. That didn't stop her from being always on her feet and helping. You know, I'm just thinking about the dynamic you're telling us.

But I want to circle back very quickly to something Alexis Tereschuk was reporting earlier. I want to go back to these day laborers, the construction workers. Take a listen to our cut to from Dave Mack. 25 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, in an area once owned by famed author Edgar Rice Burroughs and named for his famous character Tarzan, Tarzana is in the San Fernando Valley and has become a popular place for celebrities and those in the entertainment world to call home. It's also where Sam Haskell paid a

group of day laborers $500 to haul away three large trash bags that were in his garage. Speaking to NBC4 Los Angeles, the workers said Haskell told them the bags were full of rocks. But the workers said when they picked up the bags, they felt like there was meat inside. Realizing what they were carrying wasn't rocks, the workers pulled over about a block from Haskell's house to look inside the bag. Opening the bags, the men knew they'd been tricked. And more. Listen. The men described the bags to NBC 4 as soft and soggy and each weighing about 50 pounds a block away from Haskell's house the

workers opened up the bags and said they started seeing body parts specifically a belly button the men said they felt bad they'd been tricked so they drove back to Haskell's house and left the bags in the driveway and gave Haskell his $500 back. Haskell played it off, telling the workers what they actually saw were Halloween props. Not believing Haskell, the men drove immediately to the police. Okay, Alexis Tereschot, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, joining us from L.A. What? So he hired some men, day laborers.

You go to maybe Home Depot or somewhere like that. And you say, hey guys, I've got some heavy things in my house. These men are usually big, strong men and they have trucks. They come to your house. So that's what they did. They took the bags and he said, oh, they're rocks. Well, rocks are really heavy and they don't move. You can't squish them. But these bags were heavy and squishy. And the guys, their description was it felt like meat. So they were, you know, like a huge hunk of meat, squishy, but still a little solid. They looked in the bags.

They saw what it was. And what they specifically described was they saw a belly button, like the torso from, you know, above your waist, below your chest, below your neck. And that was horrific so they took the bags back the guy gave them their money they gave the money back and then they went to the police they go to the first police station they can find the police said well that's not actually our jurisdiction why don't you go to this other police station or call 9-1-1 these guys come in

with sure it's a little bit of a wild story, but you should investigate this. This is really, they're not telling you anything that is out of the norm in Los Angeles. Everything you're saying, I believe, is correct, but what's jumping out at me is changing his story. First, the bag is full of rocks. Yeah. Then he says, oh, those are just Halloween props,

even though it looks like human body parts. A natural human body. And then the next thing we know, a bag of human body parts turns up in a dumpster. But let me take it back. Joining me is a neighbor of May and Sam Haskell IV. May, the mother of three little boys by Haskell. Elle, question. What, if anything, did you hear the previous night? So I was not home the previous night, but my daughter, she actually texted it to us that night.

She heard what she thought was the youngest boy from their house or perhaps from the yard shout, hello, hello, help. And then she heard a car door slam and loud screeching, I guess, as the car drove off. Okay, hold on. Could you slow that down and tell me one more time? Okay, so my daughter texted us at around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Hold on. Could you slow that down and tell me one more time? basically maybe from the house or from the yard call out hello, hello, and then help. And then she heard a car door slam really hard and a screeching sound, a loud screeching as it drove off.

Joining me now is Dr. Trace Sargent, a search, rescue, and recovery expert, PhD in psychology, focused on victimology, star of a podcast, The Seeker's Quest. Dr. Sargent, thank you for being with us. You look specifically at predatory behavior. What do you make of someone that not only commits murder, but then dismembers the body? Well, Nancy, we look at several things, but I'd like to go back to Sam Hassel's, the fourth comment from social media. That in itself tells us a lot when we're looking at it from a criminal profile perspective, behavioral analysis, psychological analysis, and what is glaring to me is that he

perceives himself as the victim. And I would not be surprised when this case and this story moves forward, that he presents himself as the victim and maybe even go as far as blaming the circumstances that led to the death of his wife and probably his in-laws that it was somehow their fault, not his fault. He will not take accountability or responsibility for his actions. Do you agree with that, Dr. Bricato? Well, I have a few things to say about this case. And I think in some ways I'm sort of uniquely suited to look at it because it touches on two areas that have been major ones for me in my research.

First of all, dismemberment and mutilation need to be distinguished. I worked with Dr. Ann Burgess, Dr. Victor Petreca, Michael Stone, Dr. Michael Stone, and we came up with definitions to distinguish those offenses. It's important for people to understand that dismemberment, according to our work, really means the destruction or removal of a large part of the body, the torso, the arms, hand, pelvis, legs, or feet. And any destruction or elimination of a smaller part thereof would be mutilation. And the reason it's important is there are differences in the psychology and motives of people according to which of those things they're doing. But it sounds like here, we don't know how much butchery there was, but this sounds like dismemberment offense. And with dismemberment,

we found in our research that the vast majority of offenders are doing that to get rid of body parts because of concern about capture. The outside, you know, looking in makes it seem like it's some kind of bizarre psychotic crazy thing to do but the reality is it's a pretty organized thing to do that's done by a person that's trying to clean up after they've eliminated people now the other thing that i can kind of put me in a unique position here is i know that you know there's been a charge that this man has killed not only this woman, but her parents, which would place him in the category of mass murder. When I was at Columbia Medical Center, I led the largest study ever done of mass murder. And what I can tell you is, is that in order to know the motives of a person who commits mass murder, we have to know what was used to kill. If a gun is used, there's a very low

likelihood that the person was seriously disturbed or mentally ill. If something else was used, like a knife, then we start thinking that this was an individual who was unwell in some way. The statistics become, it becomes much more probable that the person was disturbed. If they use a knife, is that what you said? Yes, the use of a knife would be more of a giveaway that you were dealing with somebody that would be authentically odd, interpersonally, a little more kind of unwell. Right. Are you saying insane? Not insane, just odd, odd.

For example, the individual might be paranoid or a little bit aggressive. Are you talking about someone that kills and dismembers with a knife? Talking about someone who commits mass murder using a knife. Well, but doesn't it go without saying that they're odd? Well, odd. And when when I say odd, I don't mean odd because you've committed murder or anything like that. I mean, odd that even at baseline, the person would say peculiar things, would be a little bit kind of odd to the average individual, hot-headed, a little paranoid, a little peculiar. And that matches what we're hearing in that weird recording from TikTok and some of these stories about the detachment and

the coldness between the members of the family. Now, what's interesting about this is when we see these kinds of cases where, you know, there's been this explosive potential killing of a family and then there's dismemberment, there's usually one of two reasons it happens. One is elimination murder, as I term it, which is where the idea is to simply get rid of them because they are an impediment to something. Like, for example, I want to have a new romance or I am trying to get my hands on some money. The other that you see is some kind of domestic matter that causes an emotional disruption and somebody in an absolute rage kills someone and then has to kill everyone who has witnessed it in the family. So that what I would suppose, if it turns out that this is indeed a mass murder followed by dismemberment, was that there was some kind of hot-headed, angry, odd person who became enraged or had a motive to get rid of these people,

did so, and then attempted in a clumsy, weird way to hide it. And the reason it's so odd and the stories are ridiculous is often that the person is odd and lacks that kind of interpersonal empathy to kind of pick up that people would think these stories were weird. Let's go back to the Haskell's neighbor, L. Benamy. L. Question, I know you spent a good bit of time with May. Do you have any knowledge of Haskell having a fixation for on martial arts and kept samurai swords and crossbows in the home? Yeah. So I did. I did notice that about him. I know that she mentioned that he would direct or produce martial arts related movies or videos or that he would go on martial arts trips to Japan. I believe, and I don't know why I remember this, but I seem to recall that he may have a black belt or a couple of black belts in different martial arts.

And then I did know about their having various weapons in the house, such as swords and samurai swords. I believe a crossbow firearm. So that that's definitely something that stayed very top of mind for me as a mom of four living next door. Did her May's children tell your children about all the weapons to the point you did not want your children alone at their home upstairs? Yes. I mentioned that to my kids at several points about, let's say, a samurai sword or pointing up to where supposedly a specific firearm was kept. So that made me very nervous about them going upstairs to one of the bedrooms. I did, of course, I trust May and I did really like her three boys. So I was happy for them to play with my kids. I just didn't want there to be any accidents.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Welcome back, guys. We're talking about Sam Haskell, the fourth, living in a multimillion dollar home out in L.A. His wife working like a dog to support him and their three children. He didn't even have to take care of the children because her parents moved in to take care of the children so she could work. Now, in this last court appearance that happened in the last days, once again, he didn't have on a shirt. At the hearing before that, in front of a different judge, that was back in January, he again appeared half naked.

His worn Velcro outfit, his prison blues overalls kept flipping down, prompting his lawyer to object to his client being photographed in court, saying his bare chest was dehumanizing. I personally think he was flexing his chest, but that's just me. In response to that, the judge presiding over the hearing ordered photographers to only shoot Haskell from the neck up. But at this last hearing, the attorney did not object. Why? Because Judge Lisa Lynch, the new judge, allowed no photographs in court at all.

Now, this day in court was supposed to be the day set for a preliminary hearing to be scheduled where LA's district attorney will present evidence and testimony and Judge Lynch will rule whether the case against Haskell is strong enough for him to go to a jury trial. It's very simple. Preliminary hearings can be interchanged with grand jury indictments. It's just a charging mechanism. What's the holdup? I mean, look at the evidence that we know about so far. It now appears Haskell won't have a full preliminary hearing for another 90 days, meaning in 2025. Haskell could face the death penalty if he's convicted. May's friends have stated she wanted to divorce Haskell for at least four years,

but she was so afraid his powerful agent father would convince courts to give him or their son, Sam Haskell IV, custody of her three sons, Samuel 11, James 8, and little William just six. Delay, delay, delay. A defense attorney's best friend. We wait as justice unfolds for May and her parents. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.